Gwyneth Paltrow's Netflix Podcast Gets an 18th-Century Tapestry and Days-Long Makeover

Gwyneth Paltrow's new podcast, The Goop Guide, launches November 11 on Netflix and Spotify — recorded in a studio that looks nothing like a studio, thanks to a design sprint that interior designer Marie Carson completed in roughly a week.

The space is real, but the vibe is contrived. Paltrow wanted viewers to assume they were looking at a corner of her Montecito home. She brought in Carson, a collaborator from a previous project at her Brentwood property, to replace the sterile podcaster-on-a-sofa set with something domestic.

"I wanted it to feel like a beautiful, elevated nook of somebody's old stone house somewhere," Paltrow told Architectural Digest.

What went wrong first?

The remote-first approach failed. "We started to decorate remotely and I looked at it and thought, 'This is not the direction,'" Paltrow said. "And so I called Marie and said, 'We're filming in like a week and I need you to come and fix this.'"

Carson had never designed a set before. "At first I said, 'Oh my gosh, I've never done a set! What does that mean?" she recalled. "But when Gwyneth said she wanted it to feel like a beautiful room in her home, I thought, 'Well, I can do that.'"

Their earlier Brentwood collaboration gave the pair creative shorthand — useful when the clock was the enemy. "Gwyneth has such a strong direction of what she wants and such excellent taste," Carson said. "So I was able to take her notes and run with it."

What's in the room?

The focal point is a late 18th-century Flemish tapestry, its landscape imagery set in muted greens and taupes. Paltrow chose it for its biography. "I love them because you think about all the life going on in front of these things for hundreds and hundreds of years," she said.

Around it, Carson assembled:

• A 19th-century Belgian trestle table from Meg Turner Gallery
• Antique chairs reupholstered in Loro Piana brushed cashmere
• A handwoven hemp and silk rug from Mansour

The verdict from the client is short. "Marie's execution is flawless," Paltrow said.

Who's sitting in the antique chairs?

Zoe Saldana is the first guest. The episodes filmed so far also feature Robert Downey Jr., Kelly Wearstler and Ke Huy Quan — a guest list spanning Marvel, interior design and everything Ke Huy Quan.

Guests, apparently, notice. "Everyone who walks in is like, 'I've done so many podcasts and I've never seen one like this! It feels like a real room and I feel so at ease,'" Paltrow said.

She plans dozens of episodes in the space, so comfort is not a trivial matter. "I would definitely live in this room," she said. "I think about this room all the time now when I'm not in it because I'm so obsessed with it."

With Netflix and Spotify distribution from November 11 and a format built for longevity, the room — tapestry, trestle table and cashmere chairs — may soon outlast whatever airs around it.